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CALGARY - Tens of thousands of Canadians will become criminals on Canada Day because of the bureaucratic bungling of the national gun registration system, claims the National Firearms Association.

"They have a mess on their hands," said president Jim Hinter. "Effectively, people on Canada Day will become criminals. We're talking tens of thousands of people."

Canadians were given a Dec. 31 deadline to file a letter of intent to comply with gun control legislation in order to qualify for a six-month grace period the government announced earlier for firearm owners who had applied to register but had not yet received their certificates.

However, many Canadians who filed letters of intent, including Hinter, have yet to receive documents for registration.

"This is a joke. I have heard absolutely nothing back," said Hinter.

"They don't tell anyone what's going on and they wonder why people are so angry about this. I've heard of countless firearm owners who have tried to comply and filed letters of intent, but they've heard nothing."

David Austin, spokesman for the Canadian Firearms Centre, said 70,000 letters of intent were filed. Of that number, 45,000 did it electronically and have all received return messages on how to register their guns, said Austin.

He said the "bulk" of the 25,000 letters of intent in printed form have received packages informing owners what to do to complete registration.

Austin said people who have not received their packages should contact the centre.

Austin said the government estimates there are 7.9 million guns in the country. Only six million of those guns have been registered.
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I had the priviledge of meeting Jim Hinter at the recent Counterattack 2003 conference, and I have to say that the NFA in Canada could hardly ask for a better leader. I wish the NRA leadership had even half the life and motivation....

This is only the punchline to a bad joke; back in 1975, when the Liberals were considering a national registration system (but abandoned the idea because of the cost), they estimated that there were a MINIMUM of 6 million guns in Canada, an upper limit of somewhere around 20 million guns possibly in Canada, and a most likely true number of somewhere around 14 million guns in Canada. Added to that pool is something around a quarter of a million guns each year just from importation. So, the Liberals are now telling us that "No, no, all of those unregistered guns out there are merely figments of your imagination." These halfwits could give Baghdad Bob a run for his money when it comes to the truth. :barf: